You could write down verbs in the present tense and have students read these words and convert them to past tense (with help). Perhaps you could do a sort of regular vs. Recasting is an important strategy to use with students for all kinds of grammatical and language mistakes, but you are right that sometimes explicit instruction is needed. I find that even in First Grade, many students have trouble with verbs in the past tense- especially irregular verbs. This is so important! I love the idea of rewriting the morning message each afternoon as a way to practice past tense. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on teaching past-tense verbs! I have used many of their chart ideas in my teaching! I highly recommend you follow their blog!
On a side note…If you haven’t heard of “ChartChums”(you should definitely follow the blog! The authors, Kristi Mraz and Marjorie Martinelli, are literacy consultants with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. They write about how to use anchor charts to support student’s thinking, and make reading and writing processes visible and concrete.
I just found this game, “Grammar Gumballs” at my school and I’m going to try to play it with small groups of kids who need extra support: I’ve heard a fair amount of over-generalizing– adding “ed” to regular past tense verbs such as “walked ed ” and “talked ed.” I wonder at what point this is no longer age-appropriate… Not only is this a good way to practice past tense verbs, but also supports part of the writing process (editing).
The post below is from ChartChums and suggests re-visiting the Morning Message in the afternoon to edit it in the past tense. If a child says something like, “He cutted in line,” I usually re-cast back to the child, “He cut in line?” I’ve been looking for resources to explicitly teach past tense verbs and came across a couple of good ideas. My Kindergarteners this year struggle with past tense verbs more than any other group of kids I’ve taught.